A Heart Decision (13 page)

“Princess, if you believe all that, the world is
lucky to have you as a nurse.”

Her lip quivered.

He held his breathing, hoping she wouldn’t—
Damn
it
.

Tears poured down her cheeks.

He reached over and grabbed her hand. “Hey, what’s
wrong?” He pulled her off the bed and into his lap, rocking her the
same way he would a small child. “Shhh....what’re all the tears
for? I was complimenting you, Brina.”

“I know.” She sobbed into his shoulder. “I’m just
going to miss working. Before Ben asked me to give up my job, I was
planning to go back to the hospital.

“Have you told him how unhappy it makes you to give
up your career?”

She shook her head. “No. I figured, once we start a
family, I’ll have my own kids to—” A tiny hiccup escaped her.

“But caring for healthy kids isn’t the same, is it?”
Just like running a youth program in the ‘burbs wasn’t quite like
working with disadvantaged kids in the city.

“It’s not what I went to school for, no. I always
thought I’d work at least part-time after I had a family. What am I
going to do all day with Thomas taking care of everything? The man
doesn’t even let me make my own breakfast.”

He wiped the tears from her face. She felt so good
in his arms. “You need to tell Ben how you feel.”

“But he’s already making so many concessions.” She
sniffled.

“Only because he wants you to be happy. There isn’t
anything he wouldn’t give you if you asked for it.”

“Exactly. He’s even willing to give me you. That’s
why I can’t tell him.” She pointed her finger in his face. “And
don’t you dare go behind my back and say anything to him.”

“I won’t.” He pressed his lips to her forehead. Her
selflessness was one of the things he loved most about her. “But I
still think you should be honest with him.”

“I’d better finish packing before Thomas gets back
and tries to do it all for me.”

She slid off his lap, leaving a fresh ache in his
groin as well as in his heart. He thought about the clueless smile
Richard Klausen had worn and imagined himself in ten or fifteen
years.

He could never subject Sabrina to that kind of
heartbreak. And as for betraying Ben, his deep sense of loyalty
made him feel lower than shower scum for even considering it.

But, damn it, if he could deny himself the woman he
loved and allow his friend to have her for a lifetime, didn’t he
owe himself a few measly nights of pleasure with her first? At
least then, when Luke finally lost his mind, he’d have the memory
of making love to her to comfort him.

And maybe he’d be able to smile, too.

If Sabrina hadn’t been with Luke all day, she’d
swear an alien had inhabited his body. In the time it had taken her
to finish packing and drive them back to Luke’s house in her car,
it seemed as if someone had turned the sun on for him again. The
dark cloud that’d been hovering over him had drifted away, and he’d
miraculously transformed back into the lighthearted goofball she’d
always loved.

“Don’t forget you’re making me lasagna tonight,” he
reminded her while Thomas chauffeured them to the grocery
store.

She’d tried to convince Ben’s man Friday that she
could drive herself and Luke to the supermarket, but he’d been
adamant that Ben had instructed him to take them wherever they
needed to go. Thomas’s literal interpretation of his orders
suggested the man must be bored silly at the penthouse.

She grinned and waved an imaginary magic wand over
Luke. “Abracadabra....poof! You’re lasagna.”

“I’ll give you
poof
.” He dug his fingers into
her ribs and tickled her, making her shriek.

“Stop! Please, I can’t breathe.” She laughed,
swatting at his hands. “Besides, you need to be careful of your
wrist.”

Luke flopped back against the limo’s leather seat
and flexed his bandaged right hand. “Actually, it’s feeling a lot
better now that the swelling’s going down. At this rate, I should
be ready for crutches by the end of the weekend, and you can go
home.”

“No way.” She had to keep him dependent on her just
a little longer. She refused to let their time together end so
soon. “Even if it feels better, you shouldn’t put any stress on it.
You need to let it heal completely.”

He rolled his eyes. “Yes, doctor.”

“And as for the lasagna, that offer was only good if
you let Dusty sleep with us.”

“No. That might’ve been what you meant, but your
exact words were, ‘
I’ll fix you lasagna for dinner
tomorrow
.’ Maybe it’s escaped your notice, Princess, but
tomorrow has arrived.”

“The condition was implied.”

“But not stated.”

“You should’ve gone to law school with my
brother.”

She shivered as he nuzzled her ear and slid his left
hand up her bare leg. “Come on, Brina, fix an extra big pan of it
for me with a giant loaf of garlic bread and a salad.”

“Do you promise to forget about using crutches for
at least ten days, no matter how good your wrist feels?”

His fingers slid down the back of her slacks and
panties. “Sure,” he whispered, “As long as you don’t restrict my
hand from any other pursuits.”

Staring into his eyes, she moistened her lips. What
had happened to his staunch resolution not to initiate anything
between them?

She moved away and pressed the button to lower the
privacy panel between them and the front seat. “Thomas, if you
don’t mind, in addition to the supermarket, we need to stop for
some fresh pasta.”

As soon as she finished giving him directions to the
small Italian grocery store, Luke raised the partition again and
yanked her against his hard body. “Now that we’ve settled the issue
of dinner, where was I?”

“I’m not sure,” she whispered, her lips only inches
from his.

“If I’m not mistaken,” he murmured, tangling his
fingers in her hair, “I was about to kiss you.” One corner of his
mouth curled up in a sexy half-smile. “After that, we’ll discuss
dessert.”

Cupping her breast in his uninjured hand, he lowered
his lips to hers, still tasting of the Oreos he’d eaten at her
apartment. His warm tongue swept into her mouth, radiating all the
passion Sabrina had ached for but he’d refused her the night of her
engagement party.

His kiss, hungry, tender, and seductive all at once,
raised a thousand goose bumps over her body. Her heart tripled its
cadence, while her stomach felt as light as if she’d swallowed a
mouthful of helium. This was the way she was supposed to feel when
Ben kissed her.

Her nipples tightened as Luke stroked and pinched
one of them through her blouse and bra. He drew back a few inches,
his eyes heavy with desire, watching her face as her chest heaved
beneath his teasing fingers.

“I don’t understand.” She panted, letting him lower
her back on the seat so she lay beneath him.

“What don’t you understand?” he murmured, nibbling
on the sensitive flesh of her throat and grinding his hard arousal
against her. “I think it’s fairly obvious.”

Sabrina writhed beneath his weight. “What happened
to you refusing to make the first—”

“I reconsidered. It was a stupid position to take.”
Sliding his left hand under her top, he reached behind her and
unfastened her bra while his bandaged hand shoved up her blouse.
“If I leave it up to you to seduce me, I’ll still be waiting a year
from now.”

“That’s not fair.” She gasped as he covered one
nipple with his mouth and sucked it. “You’re the one who—” She
grabbed his hair and moaned, “Oh, Lu-uke.”

“That’s right.” He tweaked the tips of her breasts
simultaneously. “If I’d been calling the shots this morning, I
would’ve had you so turned on you wouldn’t have been able to speak
to answer the damn phone.”

Like she was now? He drew back and watched her as
she arched her back and whimpered at the intense pleasure his
pinching fingers inflicted. Desire throbbed between her legs,
drenching her underwear. She wrapped her legs around his waist and
rocked against the hard ridge straining the fly of his cargo
shorts. His eyes closed as his hips countered her rhythm, taking
her closer to the edge than she’d ever been in her life.

“Please....do you have a condom?”

Lifting his head, he gazed at the road through the
tinted one-way window and said through gritted teeth, “We’re only
two minutes from the grocery store.”

“So that’s a no?”

“No. I mean we don’t have time.”

“So you’re saying I don’t need to buy any?”

Luke drew back from her and pulled her to a sitting
position. “I have plenty, if you insist on using ‘em.” He tipped
her chin up and stared into her eyes. “I’ve never had unprotected
sex, Brina. But with you, it’s different. I don’t want anything
between us when we make love.”

“But I’m not on the pill. The last time I had sex
was three years ago.”

He winced and sucked in a shuddering breath. “It’s
not nice to tell a guy something like that when he’s in my
condition.”

The thought of having Luke’s baby made her heart
skip a beat. Was it possible he subconsciously
wanted
to be
left with no choice but to marry her? “I’m in the middle of my
cycle. If we don’t use any protection, there’s an excellent chance
I’ll get pregnant.”

“No, you won’t,” he said with such assurance it
could only mean one thing

“What’re you saying? Have you had a vasect—”

“Yeah.” He turned away and stared out the window.
“I’ve been snipped.”

“Why would you do something so permanent?”

“Because I wanted to be sure I would never
accidentally get a woman pregnant.”

Sabrina tugged on his chin and forced him to meet
her gaze. “What if someday you decide you want to?”

“That’s not gonna happen. Listen, Princess, if
you’re hoping I’ll suddenly change my mind about marriage and
having kids after we sleep together,
don’t
. I promise you,
nothing will be any different. If you can’t accept that, then
maybe—”

“No.” She pressed her fingers to his lips. “I can
accept it.” After getting a taste of Luke’s passion, she had no
choice. She couldn’t marry Ben, wanting his friend this way. “I
need to put out the fire in me, so I can get on with my life.”

“Okay, then.” He winked and sang, “
Tonight’s the
ni-ight
....”

~*~

Maybe Luke was part cow and had more than one
stomach. Sabrina watched him polish off his sixth piece of garlic
bread after eating a huge salad and two heaping plates of
lasagna.

“Man that was good—even better than my mama’s. But
don’t tell her I said that.” Luke drained his wine glass. “What’s
the wrinkle in your forehead all about?”

“I’m just wondering where you put it all.”

“I store it in my big bazooka.” He grinned.

“Ahh, so that’s why it’s so huge.” She shoved the
half-empty tray of lasagna across the kitchen table. “If that’s the
case, by all means, eat up.”

“As much as I’d like to, I think I’ll save the rest
for lunch tomorrow.” He wiggled his eyebrows and dropped his
lustful gaze to her breasts. “I don’t want to ruin my appetite for
dessert.”

“And just what did you have in mind for
dessert?”

He glanced down to her bare feet and licked his
lips. “I thought I’d start with a couple of those toes and work
from there.”

“My toes turn you on?”

“Everything about you turns me on.”

Drumming on the back door made them both flinch.

“Hey, guys, come on in,” Luke called to three
teenage boys peering through the glass. Two were African-American
and appeared to be about seventeen or eighteen. The third, an Asian
boy, seemed a little younger and had an ugly bruise on his
cheek.

“What’re you three doing here?” he asked when the
tallest of the three swung the door open.

“Hey, Lieutenant. We heard you went down during a
stakeout on Monday. My mom let me borrow her car so we could come
see how you are.”

“You heard right.” Luke took Sabrina’s hand. “This
is my nurse, Sabrina. Jamal, Damon, and Kevin belong to my
Explorers post,” he told her.

“Explorers? Is that part of the Police Athletic
League?”

“No. Police Explorers is a co-educational group
affiliated with the Boy Scouts. Its purpose is for teens to get a
feel for law enforcement work and to help out in the community.
Their uniforms look a lot like a patrolman’s.”

Damon, the boy with the shaved head and earring,
puffed out his chest. “A person can’t just join the Explorers. He
has to be at least fourteen to apply, maintain a C average in
school, and he can’t have a record.”

Luke cocked an eyebrow at him. “Some of our members
just squeaked by on the academics last year. But they’re gonna work
a lot harder in September, aren’t they?”

Damon stared at his feet. “Yes, sir.”

“So Jamal, seeing as you’re driving on a
probationary license, how’d both Damon and Kevin get here? You’re
restricted to only one passenger.”

Jamal pulled off the baseball cap he’d been wearing
backwards and glanced at his two friends. “Uhh, at first it was
just me and Damon coming, but then Kevin jumped in the car. You’re
not gonna bust me, are ya?”

“I’m out on medical leave. But I’d better not catch
you doing it again.”

Jamal nodded. “We were worried about you.”

“I can get my brother to come pick me up,” Damon
offered.

“That’s probably a good plan,” Luke told him.

Kevin ogled the three-quarters-full tray of lasagna
with an expression straight off a World Hunger poster. The boy’s
gaunt frame said he either had a hyperactive metabolism, or he
didn’t get enough to eat. Judging from the yearning in the kid’s
eyes, she’d place her money on the latter.

Jamal, the boy who’d driven there, elbowed Kevin in
the ribs. “Well, uhh, we just wanted to see how you are. It was
nice meetin’ ya, Miss Sabrina.”